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Marburg Toll in Angola Explodes to 313
 There have been 313 cases detected of the Marburg virus since monitoring of the outbreak, the worst recorded to date, began on October 13, it addedâŠâŠ. Deputy Health Minister Jose van Dunem told journalists that a health team travelled to the village of Ngombe, 150km north of the city of Uige, on Sunday and was told that a woman who had attended the funeral of a relative in Uige had spread the virus to the village. "When she returned to Ngombe, she contaminated 12 other members of her family and they all died," said Van Dunem. A traditional healer who treated many patients sick with Marburg in a town outside of Uige has also died from the haemorrhagic fever, he added.No new cases of the Marburg virus have been detected outside the province. Results from a blood test on a suspected case of Marburg in nearby Malange province were negative, he said. The dramatic jump of Marburg cases to 313 is cause for concern. The official death toll of 280 matches the total death toll in the worst recorded Ebola outbreak. The prior record Marburg death toll of 126 was eclipsed last month. However, the sudden jump in cases raises serious questions about the accuracy of the official tally put out daily by the Angola Ministry of Health. That list has discarded most of the previously reported cases outside of Uige. The basis for the discarded cases remains unclear. I guess this answers the question I was asking - why isn't marburg spreading in the bush? It is and and we are only just getting reports. Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-03 |
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